🔗 Share this article

Alyssa Healy has executed outstanding back-to-back centuries to guide her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, inspiring them to a commanding comprehensive victory over Bangladesh.

Healy finished unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her equally stellar 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84no) to dash to their goal of 199 runs in just under 25 overs.

“I felt I was a below par behind the stumps, and probably a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll accept the two points and progress,” she said.

Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s chase as the duo put on 202 came after possibly Australia’s shoddiest performance in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for dropping two of the six catches that went down.

“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and luckily delivered,” Healy continued.

Since data was first recorded on fielding metrics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches marked the team's poorest fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.

“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” Healy said.

This allowed the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their highest score in an ODI against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the maiden fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.

But Alana King spellbinding unbroken ten-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was vital to making sure the team's target wasn’t too challenging.

Healy Delighted with Win that Seals Semi-Final Place

Healy was delighted to learn that the triumph, which puts her unbeaten side top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.

The experienced captain sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from her partner later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.

Litchfield Impresses with First Tournament Half-Century

Left-hander Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her first World Cup fifty off 46 balls shortly after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest stand by any Aussie duo at a Women’s World Cup.

Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, the captain dropped the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a difficult skied one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their appeal.

The reinstated Brown bowled the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowling option, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.

Spinners Excel as Alana King Stars

Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.

Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's top wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her total to 13.

Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their record score against the Australians, but the total was made to look easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side four days before.

“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” remarked player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to returning to the next venue to take on England and South Africa.”